As I have worked in the marketplace and sought the Lord in prayer daily, I have been strengthened and encouraged by His Word and by His presence. The postings below are written to encourage the reader to stand in faith and patience. God is faithful.
The most recent article is at the top of the page. You must scroll down to read earlier postings. You can contact me at blong8@sccoast.net

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Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Why We Tend to Misinterpret God's Discipline in Our Lives

This post deals with God's discipline
in the life of the Christian. God
disciplines us because He loves us and because we are His beloved children. It
is part of His program for helping us to grow, mature, and be what He desires
us to be. It is an aspect of grace, a manifestation of the love and wisdom of
God in dealing with human nature, and is always for our good. It corrects
(makes right) those who need to be adjusted and punishes those who refuse the
correction.

Discipline is a necessity because of the
fall of man and the resulting weakness ofhis fallen nature. It is God's means of helping His children to
appropriate grace to obey in areas where they would otherwise be unable to
overcome.("Weakness" refers
to man's proclivity to sin and to his lack of capacity to restrain corrupt
desires. It has broader aspects to its definition, but which are not pertinent
to this study). Romans 6:19, Hebrews 4:15-16; 5: 2.

Discipline is a subject that especially needs to be
studied from apositive and redemptive
perspective. When God is correcting us we tend to see it in a very negative
light and fail to see God's love and redemptive purpose in it. We see it as
rejection, hate, lack of love or a displeasure that would lay us aside. This
hinders us from receiving the fullness of its intended blessings and benefits.There are a number of reasons why Christians
have difficulty receiving correction and interpreting it properly:

1. Chastisement is associated
with some deficiency, failure, flaw, disobedience, or sin. Therefore, we are prone to
condemnation rather than conviction. Condemnation produces guilt which discourages people and
hinders faith. The Holy Spirit, however, comes to convict (convince) ofsin and short-coming in order to bring
repentance and change. He draws us to Himselfrather than turning us away (John 3: 17-20;
16:18). God'sdispleasure does not necessarily mean anger
and rejection. It is difficult for people to realize that discipline is an act of love
and not rejection.

2. Our perverse nature (Luke
9: 41), inherited from Adam, causes the tendency to see things
twisted. It causes us to see God as "a hard man" (Matthew 25: 24).
Often our
perception ofGod is a reflection of our
own hearts (Psalm 18: 25-26).As a
result, we project onto God our own carnal reactions and attitudes. Thus we
fear Him in thewrong way
and think He is "out to get us."

3. The enemy accuses us in
our sin and failure. He accuses us to ourselves, to one another, and to God. The purpose of his
slander is to discourage us and to cause us to quit. He even tries, though futilely, to
move God to reject us (Revelation 12: 10;Zechariah 3: 1-5).

4. There is a certain
stubbornness in us that sometimes finds it easier to quit than to obey. We would rather quit than change (Hebrews
12: 6 "faint"). This is one aspect of arebellious heart. Stubbornness will cause
one to enfeeble himself and grow weary through the exhaustion that comes from
clinging to his own way andcontinuing to resist God, rather than changing. We dislike discipline because we want our
own way.

5. Often we project onto God
the nature of our earthly fathers who failed to exemplify godly discipline. Depending upon the
disposition of your earthly father, you could see God as either harsh and abusive or
permissive and "letting you by with murder." Eithercould produce a wrong response to discipline.

6. A
rebellious and unrepentant heart will by its very nature reject discipline.

A
person is especially tested under discipline, and his character is revealed in
how he conducts himself therein.
Facing discipline redemptively leads to strength, peace, righteousness,
maturity, and many other positive aspects of God's grace. Refusing discipline,
or failing to break and submit to the Lord in it, can lead to spiritual
disability, spiritual blindness, and failure to accomplish God's purpose. When
we see God's loving hand behind it and surrender obediently to Him in it, it
becomes a means of healing and growth. Even during God's rebuke and correction, it is
possible to have His presence and to know His mercy and grace. When God uses
"the rod," He concludes the session the way many of us do with our
own children; He sits us on his lap and loves us. However, those who resist and
rebel against God's reproof and correction face serious consequences and pain
that does not heal until they break and turn.